Electrical control apparatus.



. A. REY

RGAL CONTROL EPA .APPLIUMIQN F RATES.

ILED EEC. 2, 1909.

ELECT 2 SHBET-SHEET l.

J. A. REY. LEOTBGAL CONTROL APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED DEG. 2, 1909.

Fatented Feb. 10, 193.5..

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Loews@ 1 STATES `rEAN ALEXANDRE BEY, or PARIS,

ELECTRICAL CONTROL APPARATUS.

To all'wlzom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JEAN ALEXANDRE REY, of 26 Avenue de Sulfren, Paris, France, engineer, have invented a new and useful .Improvement in Electrical Control Ap aratus, which improvement- 1s fully set fortI 1n the following specification.

It is often necessary to control from a distance the `movement of one or more members, for example ay signal, a ships telegraph, an electriccontact maker, a train having multiple units, a light. pro]ector. In general for eachposition of the control handlc there a corresponding position for the member controlled. Mere mechanical connection may insure the correctness of this movement; but a mere mechanical connection isl no longer sufficient when .great power is required to move the member or members or again when such member or members are at a distance from the control station. In this case several means are employed especially :electrical means.

This invention has for its object the electrical control o't one of more movements, in which the parts are simple and in which a very small number of electric Wires is used to connect the control station to the lmember or members controlled.

ceording to this inventioneach member or group otl members controlled is operated by means-ot a. suitable electrically actuated device interpolated in the bridging wire of an electric system identical with or equivalent in principle. to a Wheatstone bridge whose balance is broken by altering at the control station the relation between the resistances in two ot' the bridge arms. The current caused to flow by this means actuates the device until such time as the relation between the resistances of the other two arms ot' thc bridge has been altered at the controlled station tocorrespond to that between the resistances of the first pair of arms, that is to say, until the balance of the bridge has been restored. Thus the ampli tude ot movement of the device and consequent] y of the member controlled corresponds to the extent to which the balance is altered at the control station. Owing to its great simplicity, this system may easily be adapted to transmit amixed movement which comprises .for example a horizontal movement combined with an independent vertical movement such as is required for pointing Specication of Letters Patent. Application led December 2,

' Patented Feb; 1o, '1914. 1909. serial No. 531,021.

a. projector of light in a horizontal and in a. vertical plane. v

In the accompanying drawings: Figures 1 and 2 are diagrams representing the principle involved in carrying out my invention; Fig. 3 shows diagrammatically a system embodying said invention; Fi s. 4, 5, 6 and 7 show also diagrammatical y modifications thereof; Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view showing the systems ot' Fig'. 3 applied to multiple trains.

The usual elements of an ordinary Wheatstone bridge will be seen, Viz: The arms termed ot' the resistances n. a. 7)', meeting' at. the points A B (l I); and the bridging wire c; a device M which may be a galvanometer, electric motor, capable ot turning upon its axis e: in either direction according to the direction of the current which passes through the wire e, and aV source ot' electricity s. The arrangement further comprises: At the control station a cont-act m moving over the resistancel a for the purpose ot' varying such resistance. At the controlled station a contact m moved by the motor device M over the resistance 7) which it can control. The controlled member m is actuated by the device M in any convenient manner. The other elements forming the bridge` that. is the resistances c and b and the source ot' electricity s may be placed in any suitable position at the control station. the controlled station or elsewhere. ),y moving the contact m a predetermined extent and thus breaking the balance of the bridge.v a current will pass through the wire c until the motor device M which is then actuated has by the movement ot ythe contact m restablished the balance ot the bridge. The amplitude ot' the movement ot' m. and consequently ot the motor and with it ot' the member controlled will tberetorc be a function of the movement of m. It may be remarked that the contact m in place ot' altering the. value ot' the resistance l/ might also equally well affect that ot I). Fig. 2 shows diagrammatically an equivalent'arrangement in which thel two resistances a and L vary equally in opposite senses and are both at the controlled station: the source ot' electricity s may be in any locality.

In practice the system may for example be carried out as shown diagrammatic-ally in Fig. 3 of the drawings. The device is here an electric motor whose armature is coupledJ in the bridging wire e and whose eld coil D is in shunt with the source of electricity represented only by the and conductors. The movement of the contact m is caused through the intermediary of a worm and a .helicoidal toothed wheel. It may happen that the movements of the member controlled require an expenditure of energy greater than that which can be furnished bythe bridge current above mentioned. In this case as indicated in Fig. el such current is caused to act upon a reversing relay- R which establishes contactsfor putting a main motor M in action; this reversing relay is shown in the form of a small auxiliary motor whose armature A can oscillate between two extreme positions and is brought by a spring back to a mid position. This armature is fast with the reverser I. When the current in the bridging wire flows through the armature A, it turns through a certain angle in one direction or the other, putting the main motor M in mot-ion in one direction or the other. 'Ihe principle of working remains the same as before. If current is flowing in the bridging wire of the Wheatstone bridge, the motor M moves in one direction or the other, according to the direction ofthe current in such wire. T his motor comes to rest so soon as current no longer flows through the bridging wire. When the resistances a b, a Za', comprise a large number of contacts, the energy transmitted by the bridging wire may, if necessary, be very small compared with that absorbed by the resistances. It is advantageous in this case in order to obtain great sensitivenessof the system to utilize as reversing relay R an apparatus capable of being placed in movement by very small currents, for example certain reversing relays employed in telegraphy, or a galvanometer. If the contacts made by this reverser R are too delicate to pass a current necessary for the motor M, they may control intermediate relays R which establish the circuit for the motor M, as shown in the diagrammatic Fig. 5. The controlling relay such as is shown in Figs. 4 and 5 only gives to the motor M a single rate of speed in one direction or the other. If it be desired to have several rates of speed greater or less according as the contacts m or m are farther from L or nearer to the position in which there is a balance, there may be arranged on each side of the reversing relay R several contacts which are successively made. Each of these controls, directly in Fig. "6o-r by a relay in Fig. 7, the putting into or out of circuit of resistances S which modify the rate of speed of the motor M.

The system above described, that is to say, the application of the Wheatstone bridge to the electric control of two or more movements lends itself advantageously, as

above mentioned, to the control from a. distance of mixed movements such as are necessary for example when controlling at a distance a projector of light in direction and eleva-tion. In this application the control station may consist of a telescope mounted on a circle after the manner of a theodolite provided with horizontal and vertical circles. At the controlled station, the projector will be mounted in the same manner upon horizontal and 'vertical circles; the divisions of the two horizontal circles, 400 in number for example, will be replaced by 400 contacts connected to L100 points of the resistances a b and a b above described. The motor M which insures the movement of the projector in a horizontal plane, will be put into circuit as described for Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 with or without the use of relays R and R. The divisions of the two vertical circles to the number of 20 for example arranged upon the useful portion of their circumference will also be replaced by 20 contacts connected to 20 points of two other resistances; another motor controlling the inclination or vertical angle of the projector will b-e placed in circuit with these two other resistances as described for Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7. The control of horizontal and vertical movements may be insured by two similar but independent circuits comprising two separate motors. These two motors may of course utilize the same positive and negative current distributing cables. The different elements of the combination are preferably arranged in such a manner that the control keeps the projector parallel to the control telescope in a horizontal and a vertical sense. i

In Fig. 8 is shown the manner in which the arrangement shown in Fig. 3 allows the controlv of several movable members by means of a single moving contact. This figure only shows two controlled members but it is evident that the same system can be adapted without difficulty to a large number of controlled stations. The motors M arranged in parallel are controlled in a manner identical with that described with reference to Fig. 3, a single moving contact being suilicient to actuate simultaneously all the motors. One or more of these motors M may also comprise one of the relay arrangements indicated in Figs. 4, 5, 6 or 7 or any other system of equivalent relay. In the application to, multiple unit trains each of the members controlled may consist of the moving contact of the contact maker at the electrical motor carrier which may be of any suitable type. In this manner a single general control contact insures simultaneously the suitable movement of any number of contact arms each of'which -series of resistances adapte nuca-no Claims'.

1. In control apparatus, a. resistance at the cont-rol station and a resist-ance at the controlled station, a bridging wire, a contact traveler connected to thebrid'g'ing wire at the control station and adapted to contact with the control resistance, a second contact traveler connected tothe bridging wire at the controlled station and adapted to contact with the controlled resistance .and a main motor included in theqnain circuit and connected with the secondA traveler, in combination with an auxiliar motor, and a dy to be successively thrown into circuit with the main motor.

2. In a control apparatus, a resistance at the control-station and at a controlled station, in combination with a bridging wire connecting the resistance at the control-stastation, a motor controlled by the current passing between the resistance at the control station and the resistance at the controlled station, a traveler for restoring the equilibrium of the bridging wire, a series of resistances for the motor, and means for throwing them into circuit with said motor.

3. In control apparatus, a resistance at the control-station, a controlled station and a resistance at the same, in combination with a bridging wirev connecting the resistance at the control-stationwith the resistance at the controlled station, a motor controlled by the current passing inthe bridging wire, a traveler actuated by the motor foi` restoring the equilibrium of the bridging wire, a relay at the controlled station for controlling the circuit of the motor at the controlled station, and a series of resistances for the motor adapted to be thrown into circuit with said motor.

4.. In control apparatus, a resistance at the control-station, a controlled station and a resistance therefor, in combination with a single bridging wire connecting the resistances at `the control and the controlled station` a. main motor located at the controlled` 'station and controlled by the current passing in the bridging `wire, a traveler for restoring the equilibrium of the bridging wire actuated by the said main motor, an auxiliary motor on the bridging wire at the controlled station, and a series of resistances adapted to be thrown into circuit with the main motor.

5. In a control apparatus, a resistance at the control-station and at a controlled station, in combination with a bridging wire connecting the resistance at the control-station with the resistance at the controlled station, an auxiliary motor connected to the resistances at the control-station, a main motor controlled by the current passing in the bridging lwire through the auxillary motor, and a traveler for restoring the equisistanc'es for the main motor, and mea-11s for throwing them into circuit with the Said main motori 6. In control apparatus, a resist-ance at the control station, a plurality of controlled stations and a resistance at each of the controlled stations, in combination with a single bridging wire leading from the resistance at the control-station and connections between the said bridging wire and the resistance at the controlled stations, means for disturbing the/balance of the bridge at the control station, means on the bridge wire at each controlled station for reestablishing the balance of the brid e wire, and a series of resistances adapte to be thrown into circuit with the last mentioned means tion with the resistance at the controlled 7. In control apparatus, a resistance at the control station, a plurality of controlled stations and a resistance at each station, in combination with a single bridging wire leading from the resistance at t-he control station and connections between the said bridging lwire and each of theresistances at the controlled stations, a motor controlled by the current passing in the bridging wire at each controlled station and actuating a traveier-for restoring the equilibrium of the bridging wire and a series of resistances for each motor and means for throwing them into circuit with said motor.

8. In control apparatus, a resistance atthe control station, a `plurality of controlled stations and a resistance at each station, in combination with a single bridging wire leading from the resistance at the control station and connections between the said bridging wire and each of the resistances at the controlled stations, a motor connected to the bridging wire at each controlled station and actuating a traveler for restoring the equilibrium of the bridging wire, a relay at each controlled station for controlling the circuit of the motor at the station and a series of resist-anoes for each motor adapted to be thrown into circuit with said motor.

9. In control apparatus, a resistance at the control station, a plurality of controlled stations and a resistance at each station, in combination with a single bridging wire leading from the resistance at the control station and connections between the said bridging wire and each of the resistances at the controlledstations, a main motor connected to the bridging wire at each controlled station-and actuating a traveler for restoring the equilibrium of the bridging wire, an auxiliary motor at a controlled station and a series of resistances adapted to be thrown into circuit with the main motor.

10. In control apparatus, a resistance at the control station and a resistance at the :soV

controlled station, a bridging wire, a contact sistance adapted to be thrown into circuit traveler connected to the bridging wire at with the main motor.

the control station and adapted to contact In testimony whereof I have signed this with the control resistance, a vsecond contact specification in the presence of two subscrib- 5 traveler connected to the bridging wire at ing witnesses.

the controlled station and adapted to contact with the controlled resistance and a main JEAN ALEXANDRE' REY' motor included 1n the main circuit and con- Witnesses:

nected with the second traveler, in combi- DEAN B. MASON, 10 nation with an auxiliary motor, and a rel t FREDERIC HARL. 

